Lately at night, I go out after everyone's asleep and look at the stars with Dad's telescope instead. I don't understand everything I'm seeing like he does, but it has some sort of calming effect on me anyway. It's either this or lay in bed wide awake, worrying about Caleb and Jesse. I'm not in love with Caleb any more but there's something there, I know. Maybe it's guilt, maybe it's because we have Nicky or maybe I just miss him. Jesse's getting impatient with me, I can tell. I need to figure all this out before we get serious.

I wish my life could be as simple as Mum and Dad's has been. They've been married for over 30 years and I don't think I've ever seen them fight. Jonas and I both put two and two together somewhere along the way and realised that they both slept around a lot and still they're happy. I wish I knew their secret but it's not really something I want to bring up with them.

I saw Jesse downtown and he suggested I go away for a while. By myself, to clear my head.

I don't know what that's supposed to do but I'm thinking about it. I've never left Sullivan before, except to go to college. So even if I come back as messed up as I am now, I'll at least have been somewhere different.

One week later and I was getting off a plane and landing in Three Lakes. I've never been a very outdoorsy person and I definitely never saw myself camping. But it was a really stunning place.

So far though, it was not helping me gain any insight into my current problems. Unzipping my tent, all I could think about was how much fun it would be to fool around in there. Laying in a hammock later on, my mind wandered into thinking about the logistics of hammock sex.

It didn't help that there were so many cute guys around. Even the tour guides were gorgeous! Very professional though, which was definitely for the best. They wouldn't even talk about anything not related to Three Lakes.

The morning of my second day though, I woke up and felt completely different. Caleb was no longer plaguing my every thought. I used to think about how we probably would have got married if I hadn't slept with Jesse and worry that he would never speak to me again. I don't know why but I just found that it wasn't bothering me as much.

I felt better about Jesse too. I've wanted to marry him since soon after we met and that hasn't changed. But it was always mixed with fear, because I was worried I'd mess it up like I did with Caleb. I'm just excited about the idea now though, even though I don't think it's a great idea right now.

I returned home feeling carefree and refreshed, more than I ever have. I missed Nicky so much while I was gone. It was only a few days and we've been apart longer but never so far away from each other.

I was excited to tell Jesse about my trip and how helpful it was - it was his idea, after all. He's a little more dubious than I am about me having this sorted but I really think I do. But he did agree to come over the next evening and meet my parents. And Nicky, of course.

I don't know the exact right way to approach this with Nicky but I've decided to be a bit cautious with it. Jesse and I are going to try to take it a bit slower now, so Nicky will have time to get used to the idea.

With Mum and Dad, I just said it straight and plain. I had to tell them the whole story about Jesse when Caleb left so they know who he is. They'd both suspected we were still seeing each other but they weren't angry at me, thankfully. Mum was hurt that I never came to her about it. After she said that, I decided not to tell her that Jonas knew.

When Jesse arrived, Nicky was a little shy. He's not great with big groups of people, even when he knows everyone. With a new person there, he was a little more anxious.

Mum and Dad went upstairs after a while though and he was a little more comfortable when it was just the three of us. He was asking Jesse about his job. Jesse works in the video game industry and Nicky thinks it's unbelievably cool that he gets paid to play video games all day. Jesse has the dream job of so many kids!

Now that Jesse has met my family, I feel even more determined to make this work.

Notes:

Pascal and Mina aren't as wealthy as I thought they were! They own a holiday house in Three Lakes but have nowhere near enough money to decorate it so Abigail had to take the cheapie holiday option!

Abigail's newfound clarity was totally in-game. On the first day of her holiday, she was thinking about kissing and woohoo all the time, guys were swooning over her, she was swooning over them. She rolled up the want to woohoo in the tent and in the hammock. She woke up the next morning though and she wanted to go jogging (which you can't do on vacation, how lame!), do Tai Chi and learn the slap dance. All very wholesome activities!

Abigail didn't have any Caleb-wants for the rest of the session. She has lots of wants for Jesse, even when he's not there, which is a good sign. Her other wants are hobby-related and she also has the want to be friends with Emil (who is her uncle, or else I'd be worried!). I'm hoping this is permanent now, because she's been so confused for more than 2 years now and it's time for some other poor Sim to start driving me nuts!

Abigail's fear of marrying Jesse has also rolled away. I know that one comes and goes with all Romance Sims though, so I tend to not pay too much attention to it unless there are extenuating circumstances, like there are with Abigail.

I hope Abigail has this sorted now. She's Romance, so I expect thoughts of rampant woohoo and making out. I did not expect for her to be so hung up on Caleb though! I've never experienced anything like it before. It was fun to play through, if not a little frustrating. I suspect there's someone else in the hood who's going to give me the dramas now. *g*

The NPCs you can't talk to always seem the cutest. My drivers are usually pretty good looking too!